July 2009

Over 40 people from the lower North Island braved snowy roads to attend the Carterton Community Currencies workshop "Trading Tools for Tough Times", held in June 2009.

The workshop, held by Living Economies Educational Trust, attracted locals from Carterton and Masterton, and others from as far afield as Wellington, Kapiti Coast, Hastings, Levin, Otaki, Porirua, Tawa and Hutt Valley.  The programme looked at how the conventional money system worked, and how complementary currencies could work alongside it to help build local trading networks.

"I think that the high turnout from people working in community organisations, shows that there is real interest in these types of systems as practical tools to harness the rich resources and skills in our communities."

"In these times of significant funding cuts to community, the tightening of credit from banks and job losses, people are looking for creative ways to help weather this economic storm. Complementary currencies help people to get their needs met from within their community, which is often more environmentally desirable, creates opportunities and builds strong relationships".

Matt Crawshaw of Wesley Community Action Good Cents project, participated in the workshop. He connected his work with Porirua families in debt, saying "In Good Cents we are exploring the importance of relationships and community connectedness in avoiding the debt spiral and for low income families to achieve hopeful financial futures. It was very encouraging to spend time with a group of people focused on re-imagining wealth and value systems not requiring credit at the centre."

Presenters from around New Zealand talked about three complementary currency systems and how they worked.

Project Lyttelton's Margaret Jefferies and Anneleise Hall talked about Lyttelton's Time Bank. Time Banks are a means of exchanging skills in a community and everyone's time is equal. Lyttelton's Time Bank has been so successful it has attracted interest from around New Zealand and Australia.

Bryan Innes from Coromandel has developed a scheme where people pool savings to enable interest-free purchase finance. The pilot scheme has enabled a family to build a house.

Aucklander Peter Luiten presented a model for a community currency enabling people to purchase local goods and services with debit cards as well as paper means.

The workshop was a good example of cross sector partnerships, supported by Wairarapa Local Exchange and Trading System, Transition Towns Wairarapa and Sustainable Wairarapa Inc.

Enquiries Anneleise Hall: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone: 021 138 9669

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July 2009